(Zaman Al Wasl)- Local council of al-Herak in southern Daraa province said the border town with Jordan has been under ' barbaric bombardment for the last three days.
The town is a stricken, the council said as most of the residents have been fleeing towards the Jordanian border.
Seven people, including two children and two women, were killed in al-Herak as the death toll reached a total of 30 people in the opposition-held areas due to the heavy bombing.
Most of the towns in the eastern countryside came under heavy artillery fire, according to activist Ahmed al-Hariri.
The Daraa-based activist said the heavy bombardment have pushed hundreds of families to flee the eastern countryside.
Regime forces step up attack on eastern Daraa, casualties reported
The United Nations expressed its deeply concern for around 750,000 people in southwestern Syria, where the regime offensive has displaced people in Daraa towards the Jordanian border, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Sources told Zaman al-Wasl that Washington is intensifying efforts to halt the imminent offensive in southern Syria, urging rebels to ‘be patient’, according to a 'support message' by the State Department.
Over the past weeks, the U.S. State Department had expressed its concerns over the major operation in southwestern Syria, warning the regime against “any actions that risk broadening the conflict.”
But despite the warning of taking “firm and appropriate measures” to protect a ceasefire in southern Syria, the regime is still mobilizing troops along the border area with Jordan.
After expelling the last rebels and Daesh militants from around Damascus in May, the regime began moving reinforcements to Daraa province.
Rebels say elite army troops backed by Iranian-backed local militias have been escalating hit and run attacks on their posts in a so-called "Triangle of Death", which connects southern Damascus countryside with Deraa and Quneitra provinces.
The regime forces have recently dropped leaflets on rebel-held areas, warning of an imminent offensive and urging fighters to lay down their arms.
The area in southwestern Syria, between the border city of Daraa and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, has emerged as a flashpoint in a wider standoff between regional archrivals Israel and Iran.
The U.S., Russia and Jordan agreed last year to include Daraa in a “de-escalation zone” to freeze the lines of conflict.
One major objective for the regime is recapturing the border crossing with Jordan that served before the conflict as a vital trade gateway for goods moving across the region. Its closure has hit both the Syrian and Jordanian economies hard.
Field sources said regime forces plan to seize the strategic hilltop of al-Harra in the western countryside as well to isolate rebels in al-Lajat region that lies on the border with Jordan.
Zaman Al Wasl
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